United States Historical Election Returns Series

Investigator(s): Inter-university
Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)

The United States Historical Election Returns series
was developed by ICPSR and was supported by grants from the National
Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
ICPSR's holdings of historical election data cover the years 1788-1990
and consist of several discrete datasets that contain county- and
state-level returns for all elections to the offices of president,
governor, United States senator, and United States representative. ICPSR
distributes three major general election data collections: United States
Historical Election Returns, 1824-1968 (ICPSR 0001), General Election
Data for the United States, 1950-1990 (ICPSR 0013), and United States
Historical Election Returns, 1788-1823 (ICPSR 0079). ICPSR 0001 contains
state files that list county- level returns for over 90 percent of all
elections to the offices of president, governor, United States senator,
and United States representative for all parties and candidates from
1824 to 1968, as well as special elections and regularly-scheduled
contests. ICPSR 0013 consists of national files containing county-level
returns for elections to the offices of president, governor, United
States senator, and United States representative from 1950 to 1990. Also
included in this collection are returns for one additional statewide
office, usually attorney general or secretary of state, for those states
that elected state offices in the period 1970-1990. ICPSR 0079 is an
extension of the general election collection (ICPSR 0001) and covers the
preceding years, 1788-1823, going back to the occurrence of the first
elections held under the United States Constitution. This collection
contains data for elections to the offices of president, governor, and
United States representative for the years 1788-1823. These data,
recorded chiefly at the county level, consist of only about half of the
possible returns for elections in this period and are less complete than
the body of returns available for the years from 1824-present. The
Candidate Name and Constituency Totals, 1788-1990 (ICPSR 0002) data
collection provides the names of candidates, candidates' political party
name and ICPSR party ID code, and the number of votes received by each
candidate for elections between 1788 and 1900. The data include
county-level returns for over 90 percent of all elections to the offices
of president, governor, United States representative (1824-1990), and
United States senator (1912-1990). The dataset also includes returns for
approximately two-thirds of all elections to the offices of president,
governor, United States senator, and United States representative for
the period 1788-1823. It contains returns for all parties and candidates
(as well as scattering vote) contesting general elections and special
elections anywhere in the nation. Information is also included on
elections for which returns are available only at the constituency level
and therefore not found in the county-level files of election returns in
the other collections. Beginning with the 1968 elections, returns for
one additional statewide office were included. Also included are 1990
data from the District of Columbia for United States senator and United
States representative.